UST Hospital (USTH) kicked off celebrations for its 75th anniversary with a ceremonial vaccination of administrators at the UST Medicine Auditorium on March 7.
USTH Chief Executive Officer Fr. Julius Paul Factora, O.P., Director for Administration Assoc. Prof. Analin Empaynado-Porto, and Medical Director Dr. Charito Malong-Consolacion were inoculated with CoronaVac vaccines from Chinese firm Sinovac.
LOOK: UST Hospital CEO Fr. Julius Paul Factora, O.P., Director for Administration Assoc. Prof. Analin Empaynado-Porto and Medical Director Dr. Charito Malong-Consolacion receive Sinovac (CoronaVac) vaccines at the UST Medicine Auditorium on Sunday.
(Photos from UST Hospital) pic.twitter.com/XToRqsr1dH
— The Varsitarian (@varsitarianust) March 7, 2021
The hospital received 600 doses of Sinovac vaccines and 1,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Department of Health (DOH).
Official inoculation of hospital personnel began on Monday, March 8.
Dr. John Hubert Pua, head of the UST Covid-19 Vaccine Logistics Task Force, said that about 1,500 USTH workers had registered to get vaccinated.
“But as of now of course, we’ve been allotted… a little over a thousand vaccines for a thousand individuals, so kulang pa rin talaga,” Pua told the Varsitarian.
“We’ve already made requests to DOH to deliver vaccines that we still need to provide to all those who want to get the vaccine,” he added.
USTH workers have also expressed their preference for certain vaccine brands, Pua said.
“Wala naman masyado problem with the hospital personnel wanting to receive the vaccine itself but they had certain preferences for the brand and of course, doon nagkakaiba-iba,” he explained.
Out of 1,547 personnel who registered for the vaccination, 1,160 preferred the AstraZeneca vaccine while 414 signed up for CoronaVac.
The CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines are administered in two doses.
The 600 doses of CoronaVac vaccines will only cover the first dose, Pua said. The 1,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will cover the first and second doses.
USTH followed the vaccine prioritization guidelines sent by the DOH, which takes into account a person’s age, co-morbidities and risk of exposure to Covid-19.
Pua said other staff such as clerks and office secretaries would be part of the vaccination rollout.
As of March 8, 136 hospital workers have been jabbed with the first doses of vaccines. The first vaccine rollout will run until March 12, 10 p.m.